Cheat Sheets

If you don’t already have one, you should develop a mission statement as part of the strategic planning process. Mission statements are as varied as organizations. Here are a handful of mission statements[more…]

More and more companies are articulating the core beliefs and values underlying their business activities. Strong values account for why some companies gain a reputation for such strategic traits as leadership[more…]

As you’re working toward developing a values statement for your strategic plan, beware of the personal and emotional connection most of your team members have with creating the values statement. Developing[more…]

Developing a set of values for a strategic plan is one thing; living by them is something else entirely. Having a values statement that’s all talk and no commitment undermines your leadership and the management[more…]

Forming a strategic vision should provide long-term direction, delineate what kind of enterprise the company is trying to become, and infuse the organization with a sense of purposeful action. Vision serves[more…]

The vivid description in your strategic vision needs to be just that — vivid. Include a list of ideas, phrases, adjectives, and so forth that thoroughly explain what achieving the vision statement is like[more…]

Updating or creating a new vision statement can be one of the most exciting parts of strategic planning. Because your vision sets the direction for your entire planning effort, you want to ensure it paints[more…]

Consider starting your annual strategic planning retreat by futurecasting — the practice of trying to envision your company’s future. Companies spend a lot of time predicting what sales will be like in[more…]

Understanding how your company’s resources, capabilities, and processes are used to grow the organization is critical to successfully executing your strategy, growing your company, and ultimately making[more…]

To move from where you are today in your strategic plan to where you want to go, you have to determine your strategic position, or where you stand today. This process is like taking your SUV into a mechanic[more…]

In strategic planning, the first phase of identifying your strengths and weaknesses is looking at your capabilities or intangible assets (intangible means incapable of being realized or defined — not having[more…]

In the strategic planning process, the second phase in the assessment of your company’s capabilities is reviewing its organizational capital. Now that you have people on board and in the right jobs, answer[more…]

One step in a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is looking at the processes. Are you cruising down the road smoothly, or is your SUV coughing and sputtering along, barely making[more…]

Because strategic planning is about improving the status quo, looking at how to improve operations is the key. Operations produce and deliver the goods and services to customers. These processes encompass[more…]

Another step in reviewing your processes involves taking a look at your creativity. If you’re not innovating, you’re dead. (At least that seems to be the general consensus of the business community!)[more…]

Most organizations intrinsically know where the drains are. Plugging the drains is more about breaking down institutional barriers than it is about implementing the change itself. Brace yourself for the[more…]

Developing competitive advantages and strategic plans isn’t always easy or straightforward. For many, a competitive advantage is developed by nurturing a strength over time. This process turns the activity[more…]

During your strategic planning process, you should develop a vision statement that’s far reaching but attainable. If you attain it in a shorter amount of time, congratulations! But if you don’t push your[more…]

Because your values are a key foundational element to your company and strategic plan, you want to be doubly sure they’re the right ones. You don’t set or establish core values; you discover them. The[more…]

During the strategic planning process, gathering feedback from a variety of sources results in an objective, comprehensive picture of who your customers are, what they want, and what they value. However[more…]

Just how valuable are your customers? A strategic planning calculation called the lifetime value of a customertranslates value into hard dollars. The outcome of this calculation represents a relatively[more…]